Now that Britain's heading for the exit from the EU, Britain is also heading off into independence in many fields of law, including animal welfare, and therefore needs to consider what laws should be in place in Orphan Britain. Laws to protect animals from cruelty and suffering, for example, are ...

... apparently not needed because animals don't feel pain, according to our MPs.

I found it frustrating during the final weeks of the siege of Mosul, which went on for nine months, to know that there was very heavy civilian loss of life as Iraqi forces backed by air strikes closed in on the Old City, but it was impossible to prove it. I was in touch by mobile phone with two different individuals trapped behind Isis lines who faced the dilemma of either staying where they were and chance being killed by the bombardment, or trying to escape to government-held territory and risk being shot by Isis snipers.

The two men took different decisions, but neither of them survived. One was shot dead by Isis as he and his mother joined a group trying to escape across the Tigris using rubber tyres because they could not swim. A second man was wounded in one air strike and killed by a second in the last weeks of the siege. Most of the two men’s extended families were also dead by the time the siege ended.

Fortunately some reporters do go on looking at what really happened in battles like Mosul long after the rest of the media has shifted its attention elsewhere. Joel Wing, in the online journal Musings on Iraq, writes that fresh information on casualties raises “the total number of dead during the operation [to capture Mosul city and surrounding area] to 21,224 and 30,996 wounded. 17,404 of the former and 24,580 of the latter occurred in Mosul. The new numbers still highlighted the fact that there are many more undocumented casualties as the wounded should be four to six times higher than the fatalities figure. Even if you subtract the 5,325 people that were executed by the Islamic State, that would still mean there should be 60,000-90,000 injured from the fighting.”

In a lengthy study called “The Uncounted”, published in The New York Times on 16 November, they reached devastating conclusions. They write that “we found that one in five of the coalition strikes we identified resulted in civilian death, a rate more than 31 times that acknowledge by the coalition”. They add that when it comes to civilian deaths this “may be the least transparent war in recent American history”.

The coalition denied that many of the air strikes that had killed people had ever taken place, but the reporters found that there were videos of several of them on the coalition’s YouTube channel, though these claimed to show the destruction of Isis targets. When they pointed this out, the videos were quietly withdrawn.

I'm sure this'll be brought up in parliament here.

Spoiler:

MPs criticised for failing to turn up to debate on humanitarian crisis in Yemen

The emergency debate was called by Tory MP Andrew Mitchell, the former International Development Secretary, who used it to raise concerns about the “almighty catastrophe of biblical proportions” that he said was unfolding in the country.

However, he was joined in the House of Commons by only around 30 of Parliament’s 650 MPs.

Responding, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said UK officials are in Saudi Arabia monitoring air strikes to ensure that UK-made weapons are used appropriately.

He said: “We have a rigorous legal and parliamentary process, and ensuring that international humanitarian law is not breached is clearly a vital part of that. The information supplied by those liaison officers is crucial to ensuring that our international obligations are observed. That is why they are there.”

The same merchants of doubt that delayed and blocked government action on cigarettes are now being paid to delay, and block science on global warming. The tobacco industry set the gold standard on how too attack science. Tldr after reading an unknown group's report, do you feel more confident or less confident? If you feel less confident and they say 'sound science' then that group is probably an industry shill designed to gas light you. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/th ... d-science/

What distinguishes the two calls for transparency is intent: Whereas the “open science” movement aims to make science more reliable, reproducible and robust, proponents of “sound science” have historically worked to amplify uncertainty, create doubt and undermine scientific discoveries that threaten their interests.

for example, say your chemicals are poisoning children. Demand more certainty from the regulators. At best, you delay regulations and tie up their limited money and time. At worst, you kill the regulation entirely. Either way, you win.

I actually just go to this stuff for the commentary. I admit even making a trolling comment once that I probably shouldn't have that was something like this (paraphrasing somewhat):

"We don't want to confiscate your guns because then you don't get anything in exchange. How about this, we'll give you either a discount or a free membership to a local safe space that we'll create using the proceeds from selling the broken down gun materials and a small national tax increase. The safe space will be fully stocked with drawing materials, coloring books, and plushies. It will also have daily aggression management, social integration, and sensitivity re-education seminars free of charge."

My biggest problem with the Evan thing was that it seemed to be aiming attention in the wrong direction. "See that kid getting bullied? That means he's a freak! He's dangerous! You should fear and shun him." I have my own message to teachers wanting to improve safety in their schools and reduce the risk of school shootings, who see that sort of thing happening and worry about the possibilities of the victim of persistent bullying who's getting no help whatsoever eventually losing his faith in the idea that the system is going to stand up for him and bringing a gun into the school, a message I present herewith:

DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUCKING BULLIES!

I realise it's not that simple and there is a yadda yadda yadda but, seriously, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUCKING BULLIES!

No, don't tell me you have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. Telling me that does nothing. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUCKING BULLIES!

No, telling me there is no bullying in your school because of your zero-tolerance policy on bullying does nothing. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUCKING BULLIES!

Zero tolerance policies are not there to protect the students, but to protect the school from lawsuits and to protect the teachers from shithead Timmy's shithead parents who insist their darling little angel is innocent. And you can guarantee if the kid is a shithead, so are the parents, and if you think you can have your teachers deal with those parents every month and keep turnover low, well, you are obviously not going to have a long career as superintendent.

Oh, yeah. I do the interest in guns thing, but I was definitely the ostracized loner. I had no reliable friends, was bullied endlessly the other students, threatened with a pocket knife, and even strangled with rope until things went gray.

For me, school was a terror.

But, now I see it could have even been worse. After "Evan," let's see, I should be turned in as suspicious, the police should be called, they should arrest me (or maybe worse depending on their itchy fingers), be expelled, be sent to prison, and spend the rest of my life trying to explain to a prison shrink why I am such a violent person.

Funny thing, to me that looks like much more effective bullying. I think maybe it relates to...

CorruptUser wrote:Zero tolerance policies are not there to protect the students, but to protect the school from lawsuits and to protect the teachers from shithead Timmy's shithead parents...

Well, you're half right. It isn't there to protect the kids. But it also isn't there to protect from lawsuits, the state already had more than adequate protections for that. Read up on the legal aftermath of the Texas City disaster (1947) re sovereign immunity.

No, Zero Tolerance has another much more important purpose. It allows the state to deprive students of their civil rights, in order to teach them to submit to a world where there are none.

While I am highly cynical, to the point where I half-believe that terrible rap in pop music is actually an insidious conspiracy to perpetuate racism, no, I don't think that zero tolerance is anything more than the teachers throwing their hands up in the air and pretending that they did all they could. People are lazy, and anything that can be adequately explained by laziness, probably is laziness.

Coyne wrote:No, Zero Tolerance has another much more important purpose. It allows the state to deprive students of their civil rights, in order to teach them to submit to a world where there are none.

CorruptUser wrote:People are lazy, and anything that can be adequately explained by laziness, probably is laziness.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. The slide towards authoritarianism doesn't only occur because of people hungry for power, it occurs because authoritarianism is easier for those in positions of authority and appeals to our instinct for low-effort solutions. Authoritarian solutions in school will IMO inevitably train people to accept authoritarian solutions in the rest of their lives, regardless of whether that is intentional.

Quercus wrote:The two aren't mutually exclusive. The slide towards authoritarianism doesn't only occur because of people hungry for power, it occurs because authoritarianism is easier for those in positions of authority and appeals to our instinct for low-effort solutions. Authoritarian solutions in school will IMO inevitably train people to accept authoritarian solutions in the rest of their lives, regardless of whether that is intentional.

Yeah. It's the easiest, quickest response to a crisis -- it's a policy that requires no thought, no effort, and no nuance. But at least it makes for a good sound-byte.

It's how you say "We're doing something about this right now" without really doing anything about it at all. Except you almost wish they would actually do nothing -- because zero-tolerance policies leave everyone worse off.

Two people had already been charged with murder following the deaths of Lia's older sister Demi Pearson, 15, who was killed in the blaze on Jackson Street, Worsley, and her siblings Brandon, eight, and Lacie, seven, who died later in hospital. Their mother Michelle, 35, is "fighting for her life" in hospital, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said in a statement.

Zac Bolland, 23, of Blackleach Drive, Worsley has been charged with three counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and one count of arson with intent to endanger life.

Courtney Brierley, 20, of Worsley Avenue, Worsley, has been charged with the same offences.

According to the paper edition, both gave their nationality as "White British."

The Elves didn't leave Middle Earth because their time was coming to an end. They left because the time of Men was coming, and they didn't want to watch it happen.

Neighbours have claimed that the arson attack was the culmination of weeks of intensifying hostilities between gangs including a hammer attack on a dog.

Police were also called to the property three hours before the fatal fire, reportedly to a wheelie bin which was ablaze, and a two weeks ago a house had its windows smashed.

Claire Pearson, Michelle’s sister, said: “Michelle’s been unsafe in that property for months and months and the police was aware of this, and the social services was aware of this, the council was aware of this, and I’m sorry to say this but … they’ve let her down, and my sister and her kids would have had a chance of survival if they did their job properly.”

The children’s grandfather, Mike Pearson, added: “She said she’d actually been to the housing that week and begged them to move her to a safe house or get her out of the area … they just refused – ‘you’re not at risk, you’re not in danger’.”

How is that possibly grounds for arrest? At least from what they’ve got in the article, she seems not to have been doing anything. That’s Orwellian.

Sure, the district isn’t pressing charges, but what charges could they possibly have against her? Ugh. There should be a lawsuit of some kind...

This part upsets me even more.

school board ended up approving the raise for Superintendent Jerome Puyau, whose salary increased from $110,190 to $140,188, KATC reports.

he got a 30k raise. 28% pay increase for cutting the school budget.

The raise alone is $14.42 an hour of full time work. I'm told to be happy for a $0.50/hour raise...

We're in the traffic-chopper over the XKCD boards where there's been a thread-derailment. A Liquified Godwin spill has evacuated threads in a fourty-post radius of the accident, Lolcats and TVTropes have broken free of their containers. It is believed that the Point has perished.

Dear lord, have we all become a bunch of pansies? Our parents' generation would never have taken that shit sitting down. There'd have been riots among the teachers if something as blatantly wrong as that happened, or at the very least the teachers would go on strike. I'm not normally the left-wing radical violent hooligan, but when complaining is grounds for arrest, that's kind of the time to start getting a bit active.

That or we are missing key info here. Please tell me we are missing key info?

I found a longer video of it here that provides a bit of context (mostly boring meeting stuff). The incident starts around the 7 minute mark, though the teacher comments a few times at earlier points, but nothing that I find to be particularly unusual.

I'd challenge the legality of the vote http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=99482Note: I checked and this is Vermilion Parish not Orleans. That provision for Orleans Parish seems very odd though. I'd like to know the justification for it.

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, several alarmed Hawaii residents began posting screenshots of alerts they had received reading: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

Lesson number one on why you should have a dedicated testing environment.

Until I hear otherwise, dev is to blame. That's how it works.

Behold your only true messiah. An entity of which you're a part.A vast and cold indifferent being. A grey clad mass without a heart.

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, several alarmed Hawaii residents began posting screenshots of alerts they had received reading: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

Lesson number one on why you should have a dedicated testing environment.

Until I hear otherwise, dev is to blame. That's how it works.

And if so the test message probably shouldn't include "THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

I'm more interested in why people responded like this than what we learn from such a response. If there's an actual nuclear ballistic missile coming there's not much chance anyway, whether you're panicking in a cellar or not.

People usually respond in accordance to the environment. Logical of course because of there's a lion in your close environment you should act differently than with a cute little bunny.

But that's not the point. The environment the US is in now is one where the president is bragging about having a bigger red button than Kim Jong Un. He is essentially daring NK to launch an ICBM over Hawaii. If this message were sent with Obama in the Oval Office, the initial response would be "If this message got sent why is there no air raid alarm? Why isn't there a breaking news bulletin on tv or radio? Why are news websites not doing this".

The reaction would be more calm. Less hyperactive leaders make for less neurotic responses when things go wrong.

I watched the South park episode with tweek sending cupcakes to NK a couple of days ago. Tweek response seems perfect in accordance with president GarrisonTrump bragging about tweek not being scared and it was about the same as mine when I read Trumps speech at the UN: "Just for once, SHUT UP".

It makes people scared and think the worst when there's a false alarm. You can disrupt an entire society by scaring them. This shows how easy it is with a lunatic in office.

“It was a procedure that occurs at the change of shift where they go through to make sure that the system, that it’s working. And an employee pushed the wrong button,” the Democratic governor said, adding that such shift changes occur three times a day every day of the year.

As always, it seems that people were blaming developers for user error.

Behold your only true messiah. An entity of which you're a part.A vast and cold indifferent being. A grey clad mass without a heart.

the reuters article above wrote:“There is a screen that says, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?'” Miyagi said, adding that the employee “feels terrible about it.”

Does this screen appear when it is just a drill? Humanity has become inured to "are you sure" screens; as a programmer I don't know how to get around this.

the same article wrote:The incident could also give fresh impetus to those advocating a peaceful resolution.

Or a pre-emptive strike.

Jose

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